1000X5 CHILDREN'S BOOK RECYCLING PROJECT SOCIETY

1000X5 Children's Book Recycling Project Society has collected over 268 000 books for babies and preschoolers donated by 12 000 families in 37 public and independent schools within the Greater Victoria School district boundaries. Twelve volunteers meet for two hours weekly to sort clean label and package about 800 books each and every week. Twenty-four highly respected agencies distribute the books to families in need - single parent First Nations English language learners families living in poverty. Each child may take home a bag of 3 books/month. Over a year this builds a library of up to 30 books/child within the home. This dramatically changes the early learning culture in the home where previously there were few to no books for children five and under. Many letters of thanks from 1000X5's distributing partners relate the benefits by them and reported by parents: opportunities for bonding increased language and imagination development pre bedtime quieting routine development of 'how to read a book'. 1000X5 infrastructure is very strong: a steady supply of books from families a committed and knowledgable volunteers and agencies eager to receive the resources that they now are crucial for early literacy development but which they cannot afford. Also over the years solid partnerships have been formed with major funders.